The Newbs
by The Evina
Summary: I know something strange is going to happen today, but I'm not sure whether it will be good or bad."


First of all, I want to include a short biography. My name is Larry Poppencorn. I am currently a journalist for the Toontown times. I was born on Easter-Egg Island off the coast of Donald's Dock. Both of my parents raised me well, and I learned the ways of the toons. After a few years, I had grown enough to feel comfortable being away from home. I took a boat to Toontown in search of a better life. I considered myself an ordinary blue mouse. No one had noticed that I was an immigrant. I hadn't done anything special. Nothing strange had ever happened to me for as long as I could remember, and that is what has made this feel like the most peculiar event of my life.

It was Friday the 13th and I woke up with a slight headache. It almost brought about a sense of dizziness. Because my life had been normal, I had never believed in any superstitions before that day. However, today I had the most abnormal feeling. I knew something strange was going to happen that day, but I wasn't sure whether it would be good or bad.

Ignoring the headache and dizziness, I got out of bed and prepared for work. The sky was dreary and light gray in color. I wondered if a storm was coming, however, I saw no lightning nor heard any thunder.

Right before I left my estate, I scratched my doodle. He did nothing but look up at me somberly. It struck me; I had never seen him in such a melancholy state before. But unfortunately, I also ignored this omen and I left my estate without looking back.

I strolled down Silly Street, trying to forget everything strange so far. A couple birds were chirping sadly and a chilly breeze bent the trees. A soft howling sounded in my ears, and I felt alone. There were no other toons outside. They were remaining back in the safety their homes. And with every step I took, my headache and dizziness increased.

By the time I reached the tunnel to the playground, I could scarcely stand. My head was spinning and hurting more than I had ever felt before. I had a terrible fear that I would be destroyed when I stepped into the tunnel, but it was too late. I was falling. My body seemed to be neither here nor there. I had very little sense of anything that was going on. Then suddenly I saw a blinding flash of light and I fell onto the grass of the playground.

My headache and dizziness were both gone, but something certainly was wrong. It appeared to be the playground, but it somehow seemed different. I couldn't point out any oddity in particular. Everything except for the dreary sky was the same as I remembered. The trolley sat on its rails. The gag shop was standing where it always had been. But there was not a single living thing there.

There were no toons. There were no birds. There was no wind. Everything was eerily foreboding and I immediately turned to leave. However, when I walked into the tunnel, I stood in darkness. I could not pass through into the street. Walking back out of the tunnel, I tried to prevent fear from seizing me. I decided to walk into the gag shop to ask someone what was wrong, but the door was locked. I don't remember it had ever been locked before.

Now I began to panic and I looked feverishly for a way to get out of the playground. The Town Hall was locked as well as the Library. None of the other tunnels would let me through. Feeling dismayed, I fell down onto the pavement. It was neither hot nor cold. It didn't even feel real.

There was no logical explanation that could've explained all of this. And for a moment I hoped it would turn out to be nothing but a terrible joke, but I knew better. I racked my brain for hours to think of a way to get out, but nothing worked. I reasoned that I must've been somewhere outside of Toontown, even though my surroundings looked just like the playground.

A couple more hours passed, and eventually I became a little thirsty. At the moment, I remembered the cool water in the fountain. I ran over to get some water, and I jumped when I saw that there was a toon standing inside it. It was a bright green dog, and he stood there completely still and silent, gazing fixedly at a wall. I approached him cautiously, almost scared to look into his eyes. They were stiff and blank, making me wonder how long he had been in a trance. Then I began to wonder if he was even real. He may have been a prop in this fake little playground, but when I touched his arm, I noticed that it definitely was real.

Judging by his simple clothing, and the fact that he was stuck in the fountain, he must've been a newb. I was afraid that he didn't know how to use speedchat, and I wondered if he had wandered here and got trapped in this strange place just as I had.

For the first time that day, I spoke. "Hello?"

I didn't expect a response, so it scared me when he replied. "Hi. Can you help me?"

"What Toontask are you working on?" I asked, trying to continue a friendly conversation.

He paused again, probably searching for the correct phrase. "I need to defeat a toon in Toontown Central."

It took me a moment to comprehend what he had said. And before I could respond, he had bent down and pressed a button underneath the fountain's statue. A rumbling noise echoed throughout the walls.

"Who are you?" I asked anxiously.

The toon just smiled back with madness in his eyes, showing evil, pointed teeth.

Within seconds, hundreds of savage newbs came charging out of secret doors in the walls of buildings. Their clothing was made of grasses and their faces were covered in paint. Several of them grabbed me and tied me up with rope. Then they dragged me over to a tree and tied me to it. They didn't listen to any of my shouting, and I wasn't strong enough to break away from their iron grip.

The newbs built a large fire and danced around it, chanting wildly. They parted to make way for the light green dog who was walking down towards the bonfire calmly. And when he held up his hand, they stopped moving and chanting immediately.

The dog spoke in a language that I had never heard before, but I could tell that it had something to do with me. When he was finished speaking, the newbs cheered and danced around the fire. Several of them brought a large pot of jellybeans to the center of the circle and placed it over the fire.

As the jellybeans began to melt, I realized the terrible truth. The pot was for me. I had no idea what manner of savages these were, but they could not have been normal toons.

When the pot began to smoke, I was untied from the tree and carried down to the center of the circle. I screamed for help although there was nobody there to help me. Once I reached the inner circle, they hooked me to a contraption they had built. I was hanging from a rope that went over a tree and on the other end, there was an anvil.

The heat rising from the pot below was very uncomfortable. There wasn't any method I could think of to escape this awful fate. The newbs chanted and danced more wildly than before. They went faster and faster and faster and faster until it was utter chaos. A large newb at the tree was holding a knife, about to cut the anvil off so I would fall into the pot.

But suddenly, there were screams. A large figure was emerging from a tunnel, and the newbs were fleeing from it. When it came close enough, the newb cut the rope. The large figure jumped forward and I fell into its arms. It was a large robot, smiling down at me. He ran away, holding me in his arms, and I was too stunned to speak. The newbs were throwing thousands of gags at us as the robot ran into one of the streets.

Once we were in the street, the chaos was over. All the screaming was drowned away and we were all alone. It looked much different here compared to the playground. Tall, gray office towers lined the street instead of the normal toon buildings. The robot set me down and cut the ropes off me.

"Thank you!" I gasped, not knowing what else to say.

"No problem." The robot replied. His voice was different from any cog that I had heard. It was warm and friendly. "And don't worry. The cogs can't get into this street."

I instantly felt confused again. "But… aren't you a cog?" I asked.

"What do you mean? I'm a toon!" the robot replied. "You must've been hit on the head; you sound really confused."

I had to admit that I was pretty confused, but when I staggered over to a small fountain, I saw the reflection of a robot staring back at me. I was a robot. My head started to hurt slightly and I felt a little dizzy.

"Well, see you later! I hope you get feeling better!" The robot said as he walked around a corner and out of sight.

I was left alone in the street as my headache started to worsen. I had to sit down because I felt too dizzy to stand.

Tiny lights were flickering in my head. And then I fell. My body seemed to be neither here nor there. I had very little sense of anything that was going on. Then suddenly I saw a blinding flash of light and I fell onto the grass of the playground. Once again, my headache and dizziness was gone, but things had changed. The sky was a light blue and toons ran across the grass and in and out of streets.

I stood up and scratched my head. I noticed that I was a blue mouse once again. I had no explanation of what had just happened to me.

As I stood there, I noticed one of the other journalists walking over to me. It was Ms. Daisysquirt, the purple cat.

"Where have you been, Larry? You've never been late to work before!" She exclaimed.

"Oh… right" I mumbled. "I just haven't been feeling so well."

"Well that's understandable." she replied, "That storm was the largest that we've had for many years." She led me inside Toon Hall so I could rest. Then I told her everything that had happened to me.

The word spread quickly, and later that day, the famous Dr. Ludwig von Drake came to see me. When I related my story to him, he was equally as puzzled as everyone else was. But after some deep consideration, he came to a conclusion. He said that there were millions of dimensions in the universe, and some are similar to our world; however, the dimension that I had fallen into was an inversed dimension where some things were completely opposite from ours.

It's been a few months since this had happened to me and I have mostly recovered since then. I've become famous, being kept bust with working on books, TV interviews and other nonsense.

But I still don't think I deserved it. I don't understand why I had to be the one to leave this dimension. There isn't anything special about me that would set me apart from others toons. I don't know why I've had to suffer from this weird phenomenon. And in the past few weeks, some strange things have continued to happen.

These things have made me wonder if I've actually returned to reality, because today I woke with a headache and a sense of dizziness. I am writing this, so if I leave this world again, someone may find this and remember who I was. I know something strange is going to happen today, but I'm not sure whether it will be good or bad. I don't know why it had to be me, but I have been destined to live in the shadows between time and reality. And I shall never look at a newb the same way again.


End file.
